My breath caught.
My arms crossed over my rounded stomach—protective, instinctive, almost defiant.
A silent barrier between her and the life growing inside me.
Violet noticed.
Her eyes flicked down for the briefest moment, tracking the movement, before snapping back to my face.
“Every attempt I made these past months to contact you about ending that thing in your belly before it grew... has failed.” She said, her voice tight.
She bit her lower lip until it whitened, as if holding herself back from saying more than she intended.
“Vincenzo only let me come to the estate today because I made it clear I’d hurt myself if he refused.”
I frowned slightly, trying to process that.
She let out a short, humorless breath.
“I even went as far as threatening to throw myself down the stairs in front of his men.”
Her eyes didn’t waver as she said it.
“I had to make him listen.”
A pause.
“Eventually, he caved.”
For a moment—
I almost laughed.
It came out as something bitter.
“So you blackmailed your way in, like you always do.” I muttered, shaking my head slightly
“I wonder how often you’ve twisted him to your will... it’s pathetic, really, to see a man so powerful wrapped around your fingers.”
Violet’s lips curved faintly.
“And that’s why you should be scared of me. If a man like Vincenzo can be bent to my will, imagine what I’m capable of.”
“Listen... I haven’t killed you all this time because I wanted to give you a chance—make sure you refused my offer—before I put you six feet under.”
Her voice was soft—poison wrapped delicately in silk.
The kind of tone that didn’t need to be loud to be dangerous.
I held her gaze, unflinching.
“Sometimes I can’t understand why someone as beautiful as you would be so cruel.”
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
“It’s truly pitiful. You could have been extraordinary, if only you hadn’t let bitterness take hold of your heart.”
For the first time—
